The Malik Report

- One GM on the Red Wings: “They’ve got cap room and a good team. Dangerous combination.” Ken Holland said earlier in the season he wanted to wait and see what he had. Well, he’s got a team good enough to win the Eastern Conference.

- This is me spitballing, but if you’re Detroit and Toronto, would you do Dion Phaneuf for Stephen Weiss and Jakub Kindl? The Red Wings gain on the money (but just a little bit, unless some of Phaneuf’s salary is held back), the Maple Leafs gain on term.

"I'm just going to try and take advantage of the opportunities I get and work hard in practice," Gustavsson said. "It's only six weeks or so left in the season, so we'll see what happens. I'm just going to do whatever I can when I get the chance and show that I can be out there.

"But in the end it's all about the team getting points and getting a good position to get a good playoff run going."

The Red Wings' top-rated power play managed only five shots in almost nine minutes.

"Our entries, we didn't do a good job of executing there," Abdelkader said. "In turn we didn't create much momentum off our power play and get quality chances.

"We kept pucks on the walls, which L.A., they're a big team, so that's where the want the puck, along the wall. We need to communicate better. In turn, our power play has won us a lot of games this year."

It's hard to split heads and tails when the Detroit Red Wings drop all of a 1-0 decision to a playoff-desperate Los Angeles Kings team that had won 7 in a row going into Tuesday's tangle (now that's 8 for LA), and it's hard to argue with the Wings' effort given that they were playing their 3rd game in 4 nights and had gone to overtime in the previous 2...

But the Red Wings were absolutely mauled by the Kings en route to that 1-0 shutout loss, and while the Wings were without Henrik Zetterberg's space-creation and Kyle Quincey's steady play, getting all of 20 shots on Jonathan Quick--including 5 power play opportunities, to the point that Drew Miller's 4 shots led the team--that's not acceptable for a Big Red Machine that got stopped in its tracks by a bigger, meaner and hungrier Kings team.

The fact that the NHL allows wrestling on ice these days didn't help, but the Kings' play happens to have set something of a blueprint for the Wings' Eastern Conference opponents and possible Atlantic Division playoff rivals to employ, and when you get so thoroughly beaten and beaten up when you take the 1-0 margin of defeat out of the equation, that at least has to get you concerned about your ability to get "Anaheim'ed" or "King'ed" come April.

"I have some symptoms that I don't have when I'm 100 percent. Until those symptoms go away, I'm just going to take it easy."

General manager Ken Holland said Monday the Red Wings will not rush Zetterberg until he is free of any symptoms and feeling well enough to go on the ice.

Zetterberg and the Red Wings aren't calling the injury a concussion, although there appear to be some similarities.

Holland said Zetterberg had a headache Sunday, and Zetterberg wanted to avoid any light when doing Tuesday's interview.

Zetterberg didn't delve into what "symptoms" he has but playing right now is out of the question.

"Obviously, I'm not 100 percent and until the symptoms go away, I have to take it easy," said Zetterberg, who added he's never had a concussion before. "The symptoms have to go away before I can do any more heavy (training) stuff, and until then, I have to take it easy.

"I rode the bike a little bit (Monday). Hopefully I can do the same today."

While you may want to debate that Zetterberg was 'unsuspecting' of the glove punch from Benn, the fact that Hank engaged and significantly restrained Benn created a "confrontation" between the two players. This engagement all but eliminates a more severe penalty assessment from the equation. At the present time, a play such as this will not be reviewed by the Player Safety Committee.

... following what had to be a frustrating 4-3 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center, Red Wings Mike Babcock didn't criticize his team for letting up a bit in the third period, for any defensive miscues or soft goals allowed.

He rattled off a lengthy list of positives.

"I thought we played real well tonight. I thought we controlled the game," Babcock said. "The puck found a way in our net a couple times. I didn't like it, but I thought our team played good, played hard.

"The kids were good. (Riley) Sheahan had a good night against (Ryan) Getzlaf. (Luke Glendending's) line was real solid. We got a good effort out of (Stephen) Weiss' line; I shut them down early but I thought they were good. And then Pavel (Datsyuk) was good.

"I liked our game. The puck went in the net a couple times it shouldn't have. Let's get on with it."

The Detroit Red Wings, once again, should have defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-0 or 3-0, but a Red WIngs team that rarely shows up for minutes 1-20 of games instead decided to mail in its 3rd period, and as a reasult, it gave up 3 goals in 3:30, had to scramble for a 3-3 tie and predictably blew a shootout, losing 4-3 to an Anaheim Ducks team that had no business pushing the Wings to 2-0-and-1 on their West Coast Swing.

Jimmy Howard was good but could've been better, in regulation and the shootout, and the same is true for the men in front of him, because the Wings managed to make a 20-goal season for Pavel Datsyuk and Datsyuk tying Slava Kozlov for 5th all-time in Russian points feel like small consolation.

I don't know why this team is having so much trouble keeping goals out of its net. It's certain that Howard isn't at 100% yet after returning from his groin injury, but the Wings got caught with their pants down on the exact same play 70 seconds apart, they blew a 2-goal lead in which they were out-shooting their opponent 22-10 because they stopped playing like their opponent was as good as the Ducks are, and in the end, what was a masterful first 40 minutes ended up being egg on the Wings' faces.

Well consider this "encouraging news" and "rut roh" news. The Free Press's Helene St. James reports that the Red Wings probably won't dress Henrik Zetterberg tonight (against Anaheim) or tomorrow (against Los Angeles) out of an abundance of caution [edit: And if you don't know this, the Wings' concussion protocol usually means shutting someone down for 5-7 days, so I would not anticipate Zetterberg returning until either Thurdsay against San Jose, or, more likley, Saturday against the Predators /end edit]:

Detroit Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg remains sidelined because he isn't feeling well, but he hasn't engaged in the protocol that kicks in when a player is feared concussed.

"I don't think we think there's any need to," general manager Ken Holland told the Free Press Monday night at Honda Center, where Zetterberg will miss tonight's game against the Ducks. Asked if Zetterberg would be available Tuesday at Los Angeles, coach Mike Babcock said, "not that I know of."

Holland said Zetterberg "had a bit of a headache" Sunday but hadn't reported any today. The official diagnosis is that, "he doesn't feel 100%," Holland said.

[Coach Mike] Babcock said defenseman Kyle Quincey will see a second specialist about a foot ailment, but Holland said surgery isn't yet on the table. "He has some chips floating around," Holland said. "He's played a bunch of years with them."

And both she and the Boston Globe's Fluto Shinzawa noted that the March 8th game between the Wings and B's has been picked up by NBC, and will start at 12:30 PM EDT instead of 8 PM EDT.

About The Malik Report

The Malik Report is a destination for all things Red Wings-related. I offer biased, perhaps unprofessional-at-times and verbose coverage of my favorite team, their prospects and developmental affiliates. I've joined the Kukla's Korner family with five years of blogging under my belt, and I hope you'll find almost everything you need to follow your Red Wings at a place where all opinions are created equal and we're all friends, talking about hockey and the team we love to follow.